Pratt & Whitney gets piece of jet fighter pie

By STEPHEN SINGER

Published
1:00 am EST, Monday, October 29, 2001

AP Business Writer

HARTFORD -- Pratt & Whitney stands to earn $4 billion over nine years making jet engines for the military's next-generation fighter jet, which will be built by Lockheed Martin Corp. under a contract awarded Friday by the U.S. Defense Department.

The $200 billion Joint Strike Fighter contract, the richest in Pentagon history, is for 3,000 supersonic jets with radar-evading capabilities to replace the aging fighter fleets of the Air Force, Navy and Marines.

It also will be used by Britain's Royal Navy.

"We think it involves some of the most advanced turbine aircraft engines in the world," said Mark Sullivan, spokesman for the East Hartford engine manufacturer. "This is one of those big milestones for us."

Production is set to begin in 2007 and extend 20 years, Sullivan said. In a best-case situation Pratt & Whitney could earn $50 billion over the production schedule, he said.

Lockheed Martin beat Boeing Co. in a fierce competition for the contract. Pratt & Whitney would have been the engine builder for either company.

The joint strike fighter program has strong potential for worldwide sales, said Louis Chenevert, president of Pratt & Whitney.

The fighter jets "will be the backbone of our military engine future for decades to come," he said.

Because work on the fighter jet is still about six years away, the contract will not affect planned job cuts at Pratt, Sullivan said.

Citing a downturn in the aerospace industry, United Technologies Corp., which owns Pratt & Whitney, last week said it would lay off 5,000 people, about half at the jet-engine maker. Pratt employs about 30,000 workers worldwide.

The General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, has warned that the jet could end up costing more, take longer to build and have performance problems because the technologies need more development. The Pentagon has said its independent investigation found the technologies are adequate.

The closing price for United Technologies stock Friday was $57.01 a share, up by 4.6 percent.